MORELIA, Mexico – Two members of an indigenous self-defense group were killed by police in western Mexico, the Michoacan state Attorney General’s Office told Efe.

The victims, both with the community militia in Aquila, died shortly after 5:00 p.m. Tuesday in a brief gunfight with police.

Police and soldiers detained 45 members of the Aquila militia last week, most of them on weapons charges.

The cops involved in Tuesday’s clash were escorting agents of the state AG’s office as they tried to serve arrest warrants on other members of the self-defense group.

Residents of Aquila and other indigenous communities in Michoacan and neighboring Guerrero state recently formed militias to defend themselves against a criminal organization that calls itself “Los Caballeros Templarios” (Knights Templar).